A virtual reality (VR) system replicates an environment that simulates physical presence in places in the real world or an imagined world using entirely-computer-generated three-dimensional (3D) imagery of “scenes” within this world. Similarly, an augmented reality (AR) system “augments” physical presence in the real world through computer-generated 3D imagery that overlies contemporaneously captured imagery of the real world. Thus, VR and AR systems both seek to provide an accurate sense of “presence” in the real, augmented, or imagined world. Typically, this sense of presence is facilitated through the use of a head-mounted display (HMD) or other user-portable display device that displays imagery that provides a two dimensional (2D) or 3D representation of a scene in the represented world, where the presented scene reflects the user's relative perspective of the scene based on the user's current pose (that is, the location and orientation of the user-portable display device relative to a reference coordinate frame for the depicted scene).
When a user with an HMD moves his or her head creating fast motion on the display, a mismatch between the vestibularly-sensed head movement and the corresponding visual effect can cause Visually Induced Motion Sickness (VIMS). VIMS is more severe with a wider field of view and less severe with a smaller field of view. Conventional methodologies reduce the field of view provided to the user of the HMD in order to reduce the possibility and/or severity of VIMS experienced by the user.